Congress Dances to the Edge, Averts Shutdown

Posted on Apr 8, 2011

Wikimedia Commons / U.S. House of Representatives

After an exhibition of political recklessness conducted in the face of an ominous deadline, congressional leaders reached an accord late Friday night that averted a shutdown of the federal government. The agreement was announced by House Speaker John Boehner, at right.

The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders and President Obama headed off a shutdown of the government with less than two hours to spare Friday night under a tentative budget deal that would cut $38 billion from federal spending this year.

After days of tense negotiations and partisan quarrelling, House Republicans came to preliminary terms with the White House and Senate Democrats over financing the government for the next six months, resolving a stubborn impasse that had threatened to disrupt federal operations across the country and around the globe.

Speaker John A. Boehner, who had pressed Democrats for cuts sought by members of the conservative new House majority, presented the package of widespread spending reductions and policy provisions and won a positive response from his rank and file shortly before 11 p.m.

To Cantor’s “fungibility” point. I think he fears that Planned Parenthood doesn’t have two accounts- one, funded by the feds for screening, tests, etc, and another, funded by private sources and used for abortion. He may be worried that if one source rund dry, they will get the money from the other.

I have no idea how PP runs its finances, but I think Cantor needs an answer, which would be provided by more transparency from PP.

Having said that, I still think the Repubs were idiots for putting the abortion issue so high up on their deal killer list. Let it go.

Margaret Sanger was right. We should look the other way on abortion, like we look the other way with gang wars: When you consider who engages in those activities you realize that they help reduce the less desirable elements in our society.

Regarding all the mock hysteria by the right about abortion funding—-
There was a rider that the Repugs attached to the
budget preventing federal funds, including Medicaid funding for low-income women, from going to Planned Parenthood, which by law cannot be used for abortions anyway. The funding Republicans tried to cut is for family planning, cancer screenings, and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment.

I just heard cantor talking about planned parenthoods
funds being FUNGIBLE and I think the right just opened
the door to counter the damage BY CITIZENS UNLIMITED,
or save the country countless billions. If by their
logic planned parenthood should be de-funded because
the money fungible, well so too should CORPORATE
SUBSIDIES.
Why should liberal taxpayers pay for their own
destruction because the koch brothers get corporate
welfare checks to invest into buying votes,

What pissed me off about the Republicans was their unwillingness to ignore abortion. Seriously.

I mean really, how much does the government really spend in any given year killing predominantly black and poor underclass babies in DC? It must be way south of a billion. Chump change. If it really was about spending and not ideology, they would have let it go.

On the other hand, to hear the Dems talk, if the government were to shut down, there wouldn’t be another single breast cancer screening test performed in the nation until it opened back up (Harry Reid worried for the health of his women-folk!), and the very air we breathe would be poisoned beyond use in short order. Millions would starve in the streets, (including military families, but fuck them).

If Boehner had concentrated on fiscal rather than social consevatism, he probably could have cut a lot more. The Tea Party got in its own way on this one.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form
a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America.

provide - to supply or make available (something
wanted or needed

promote - to help bring about or further the growth
or establishment of

you people are a joke. the govt should of been shut down. why on the earth do you think tax payers should pay for abortions? why dont we buy guns for people that cant afford them. nothing makes me want to puke worse than listening to liberal logic. 60 billion extreme? you people dont even know what extreme is. You dont even know what wasting is. i bet you all love to pay all that interest on your credit card. start coming up with logical arguements. you sound stupid.

By doublestandards/glasshouses, April 9, 2011 at 5:49 am Link to this comment(Unregistered commenter)

When speaker Boner says that it’s all about job creation
you have to remember that “jobs” is how republicans say the word “profits”
which they can’t actually make come out of their mouths.
Also notice that Obama and Reid began using
republican talking points immediately after
the agreement was reached. So the only difference between
the two parties now is that republicans want women barefoot
and pregnant, and while democrats have no problem with bare
feet, they don’t necessarily want them pregnant.